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Diplomacy
Okada: Iran-Turkey-Brazil Agreement is Separate from Sanctions
Monday, May 31, 2010
Tokyo -- Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada, meeting today in Tokyo with his Iranian counterpart, Manouchehr Mottaki, indicated that the uranium deal between Iran, Turkey, and Brazil is a "separate matter" from US-backed sanctions resolutions in the United Nations.
Tokyo is apparently taking the view that the Turkey-Brazil agreement is simply an additional responsibility that Tehran has voluntarily taken upon itself with no relationship to the broader issue of the Western suspicions about illicit Iranian nuclear weapons development.
Okada also urged Tehran to "make a crucial political decision now for the sake of the Iranian people."
The inference was that Tokyo is likely to support the new UN sanctions effort.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently lashed out at Western countries for adopting a hypocritical stand on the Iranian nuclear issue: "When we hear people talking about stopping Iran getting nuclear weapons -- who are they to talk against the idea of having nuclear weapons? Those who talk like that should eliminate nuclear weapons from their own countries. That's the only way to be convincing."
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton maintains the line that Iran is "using" Turkey and Brazil, and these diplomatic efforts are only "buying time" for Iranian nuclear development.
Tokyo seems to be hewing to a line that quietly supports the US stance.
PanOrient News
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